Celtics: Great & Greedy Can Boston Be Beaten? Rockets Know It, Out To Show It

June 1, 1986|By Barry Cooper of The Sentinel Staff

HOUSTON — Here are the Boston Celtics, playing against the best basketball teams in the world and disposing of them with such startling efficiency, such remarkable poise and grace, that you wonder what is it these Celtics have.

They play as if turned on by some miracle elixir, recoiling from the fiercest shots of the NBA's best, only to shroud their faces with haughty looks and properly dispatch the opposition, sending them home losers again.

Numbing numbers tell the Celtics' story -- 80-16 overall, 49-1 at home, 13-1 in the playoffs.

The Celtics are on a roll, obsessed with doing away with the Houston Rockets as the NBA finals resume today at 3:30 p.m. Two more victories and the Celtics can rightfully assume their place as perhaps the greatest team in NBA history.

But why? What makes this team tick like no other? You can point to Boston forward Larry Bird, arguably the best all-round player ever. Single out the Celtics' talented big men like Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton. Talk about super defender Dennis Johnson, mini-enforcer Danny Ainge.

But for all their superlatives -- Celtics Coach K.C. Jones told reporters three months ago that this is the most talented Celtics team ever -- Boston's success seems to transcend any one positive.

In a sport that thrives on one-on-one, look-what-I-can-do attitudes, the Celtics are a throwback to the days when teammates locked hands for a moment of prayer, dove after loose balls, scrapped on defense and cheered as loudly whether they or a teammate scored.

The entire package is called Celtic Pride, and the young Rockets are finding out what it means. Clearly, they are shaken. But even in the wake of pending doom, the Rockets are trying to put their best face forward.

They stood around before practice Saturday with their jaws proudly thrust forward, insisting to reporters that talk about Celtics mystique was mere cannon fodder.

''They're human,'' said Rockets guard Mitchell Wiggins. ''We just haven't played well the last couple of games. We're not getting the breaks. Not one.'' ''Are they invincible?'' said Rockets guard Rodney McCray, repeating a question. ''How can we say that? We haven't played well. If we go out and play the best we can and they still win by 20, then we can answer that question.'' That time may come soon. The Celtics have shown amazing resilency, winning 15 World Championships, including two of the last five. While most other NBA teams fluctuate in the standings, unable to quickly regroup when their best players retire, the Celtics stay on top by making shrewd deals, bringing players like Johnson, Parish and Walton into the fold while hardly giving up anything. The Celtics clearly have the midas touch.

For them, the key word is togetherness. And pride.

''We're a very good ball club that wants to win,'' Johnson said. ''Talent has a lot to do with that. Teamwork has a lot to do with that. Learning your roles and accepting your roles has a lot to do with it.

''There are a lot of guys who couldn't play on this team because they are not willing to accept a back role to Larry Bird. Or accept the kind of back role that Robert Parish accepts to Kevin McHale.

''For example, we know Larry sometimes has to have quite a few shots and you have to know exactly when to give it the ball to him. Or if Robert is hot, we have to take the ball away from Kevin and have Robert realize that Kevin has to have a few more shots.''

That sort of give and take has helped make the Celtics the smoothest team in the NBA. They dazzle people with their passing, whipping the ball around as if engaged in a friendly game of hot potato.

Even McHale has gotten into the act. His passing once was so mediocre that tossing the ball to him ''was like dropping it into a black hole,'' Ainge said. ''You never saw it again.''

Now McHale frequently racks up four, five, six assists a game. And Bird cannot be overlooked. With him in hand, the Celtics are the best. Former Celtics great Bill Russell, who rarely compares players, was asked who would be best, Bird or Bill Russell in his prime?

''Flip a coin,'' Russell said. ''Flip a coin.''

Bird. The passing game. Defense. McHale. Those are but pieces of Boston's game. For the Celtics, the sum seems even better than the parts.